Our 2025 Wrapped 💛
Every year feels marked by something different: this one felt like community.
Building businesses is a team sport. There’s lots of highs (and plenty of lows), and riding that rollercoaster solo just isn’t our style. So, in honor of the incredible creatives & clients we get to surround ourselves with - this 2025 wrapped is in honor of them. 👏
- Hosted 11 six fig+ creatives for 3 days for our Inner Circle Retreat in Palm Springs (and surfed at the Palm Springs Surf Club)
- Uploaded 56 podcasts (making good on our weekly commitment of free value to anyone who wants to grow)
- Sold out our first in-person workshop in Waterloo, Canada! So cool - what city should we go to next?
- 79 creatives went through the 6 week Creativ Rise Mastermind with us to build 6 figure foundations (Round 15 did $510,364.25 in just 6 weeks)
- 2,223 creatives signed up for our online workshop (another one coming soon!)
- Had a record-breaking year in our own content agency working with awesome clients!
- Funded a brand new home for a single mom in Mexico (and got to go down and meet her!)
👉 and we are in the process of raising $12k to feed 100 kids in 2026 - we are at $7500/12,000! comment “convoy” to feed a kid for a year for only $120 (or multiple kids!)
It’s wild what happens when you ditch isolation and choose community. We are so grateful for you all. Let’s build some great things together in 2026. ⚡️
Let us hear a highlight or two from your 2025? 👇
- Joey & Christy
We are in the creative gold rush. It’s undeniable.
Brands need endless content - attention is currency.
Brides value photo and video of their big day more than ever before.
Taking advantage of the this gold rush we are living through for creatives comes down to 1 thing.
Not your talent.
Not your gear.
It all comes down to your ability to understand and implement a proven business strategy.
That’s the only difference between creatives who have talent but struggle financially - and creatives who build stable, growing 6 figure businesses they love.
If you want the proven 6 figure business foundation we’ve helped 400+ creatives implement from over the past 6 years - we got you. The same systems, frameworks and strategies that’s created $136M of revenue for our 416 grads.
Round 16 of the 6 Week Mastermind is coming September 2026.
35 businesses only ✌️
If you join the Waitlist for Round 16 right now, you get:
- first access to the application (when we drop them in August 2026)
- immediately get our Sales Call Formula course for free - you can take that today 👀
Comment “6 Pillars” to join the Round 16 waitlist & get all the info about the 6 Week Mastermind!
- Joey & Christy
Ps. So proud of you guys - @dayginprescott@nativerelease@madisontremblaymedia@kennahisky.co 💛
2026 PRICING STRATEGY STEP BY STEP 👀 Save this carousel to help you price your next 2026 job!
All of us ask the questions - How do I price my work? Is it just day rates? What does it look like to price for my value rather than just hourly?
Pricing finally made sense for us when we stopped guessing and started using an equation.
This equation is more work than just slapping a day rate on your business, but we promise you, if you price this way you will out earn your day rates over & over.
If you want even more context to the pricing conversation, comment “podcast” and we’ll send you the link to tune into Ep 264.
Imagine finding the perfect pair of shoes - no price tag anywhere, and the staff tells you to send an email to find out the price. 😳
You would walk straight out of that store and never come back.
That sounds ridiculous, right? No real store would ever do that.
But a lot of creative businesses are doing exactly that on their websites every single day.
A potential client finds you. They love your work. They're genuinely interested. And then they hit a wall trying to figure out if you're even in their budget.
No starting price. No range. Nothing.
So they leave. Not because you were too expensive. Because the friction of finding out felt like too much work.
You don't have to publish a full pricing menu. But giving people enough information to take the next step is the difference between a warm lead and a lost one.
Make it easy for people to say yes to even just reaching out.
Episode 284 breaks down the full pricing conversation so you know exactly what to share, when to share it, and how to keep leads moving forward.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link!
And if you’re not quite sure what your pricing should actually look like, comment "CALCULATOR" and we'll get our free pricing calculator over to you so you can stop guessing and start charging with confidence.
#PhotographyBusiness #WeddingPhotographerBusiness #PricingStrategy #CreativeEntrepreneur #PhotographyMarketing
Hiding your pricing isn’t evasive. If you do it the right way. 👀
A lot of creatives post their rates and let the numbers do the talking before they ever get a chance to make a case for themselves.
When you show pricing, you hand that filtering power entirely to the prospective client before you've had any chance to establish value.
Christy here! I did the opposite for my entire career as a destination wedding photographer - and it worked.
No pricing on my website.
No budget question in my inquiry form.
Just a real conversation.
Because I knew that I had a well-crafted intro email, a solid pricing guide, and that a genuine sales call can push someone to stretch their budget in ways a number on a website never will.
👉 Here’s the thing about hiding your prices:
When you leave your rates off your website, you reclaim the presentation of your pricing, but you pay a trust tax to do it.
Hiding your pricing can work really well if you build trust through a solid sales process, but if someone isn't already impressed or curious enough to go through that process or your process is weak, hiding your pricing won't create curiosity. It'll just lose them.
Your inquiry form is not a whole sales process. It's just the door.
What happens after someone walks through it? That's where you either leave money on the table - or your confidence in your sales process speaks for itself.
Tune into Episode 284, where Joey and I break down how your business structure and context determine whether or not you should list your pricing on your website.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link!
Whether you shoot brands, weddings, socials, or sessions, this calculator helps you build tiered packages using your real numbers so you can stop second-guessing your rates. Save your presets and revisit whenever things change. Download the Creativ Rise app to access the free calculator!
📲 Comment "PRICING CALCULATOR" and we'll send you the link!
Round 16 is coming - and the waitlist is literally free to join. 👀
If you've been watching from the sidelines thinking "I need this" - this is your sign.
Maybe you're grinding alone with no real plan.
Maybe you know what to do but can't seem to actually do it.
Maybe you're just tired of figuring it out by yourself.
That's exactly why the Creativ Rise Mastermind exists.
Here's what you get just for joining the waitlist:
- Early access before applications open in August
- Early pricing (the waitlist takes almost all the spots)
- The Sales Call Formula course - completely free
No cost to join. No commitment. Just get in before it fills.
Round 15 results, what the 6 weeks cover, and real testimonials are all waiting for you at creativerise.com.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link to Episode 283!
P.S. If you've been feeling the isolation of building your business alone, that ends inside the mastermind. Six weeks of real strategy, real community, and Joey and Christy walking with you the whole way.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" and we'll send you the waitlist link!
The biggest sales calls of their lives - and they almost never even got on them. 😳
Most creatives avoid sales calls because they feel like an interrogation where you're trying to convince someone to hire you.
Awkward. Uncomfortable. Out of control.
That's exactly where Round 15 started - and it's not where they ended up.
The shift? Stop showing up and saying "here's what I offer, hire me."
Start showing up like a consultant.
Ask: "Tell me about your event. What would a home run look like?"
Ask: "If everything went perfectly, what assets would you walk away with?"
Ask: "What are we actually trying to achieve here?"
That's what Chris did - and he walked away with a $3,500 live event fee. Biggest deal of his career.
Not because he got lucky. Because his posture on that call was irrefutable.
It’s the same framework. Same questions. Same confidence you can build too.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link to Episode 283!
P.S. The Sales Call Formula - the exact framework that got Chris and dozens of Round 15 students closing their biggest deals ever - is yours free when you join the Round 16 waitlist.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" and we'll send you the link!
37 small creative businesses. Six weeks. $611,407. 🤯
Not seven-figure agencies. Not established studios with massive teams.
Most of them were making under $50K a year when they started.
Here’s what that breaks down into:
$101,901 per week.
$14,557 per day.
$606 per hour - around the clock for six weeks straight.
This is what happens when creatives stop guessing and start building with a real plan, real accountability, and a community that's all in together.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link to Episode 283!
P.S. Round 16 is coming this fall and the waitlist is free to join. These are the results that happen inside. If you want early access and early pricing before applications open, get your name on the list now.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" and we'll send you the waitlist link!
#creativebusiness #weddingphotographer #photographybusiness #creativentrepreneur #socialmediamanager
37 small creative businesses. Six weeks. $611,407. 🤯
Not seven-figure agencies. Not established studios with massive teams.
Most of them were making under $50K a year when they started.
Here’s what that breaks down into:
$101,901 per week.
$14,557 per day.
$606 per hour - around the clock for six weeks straight.
This is what happens when creatives stop guessing and start building with a real plan, real accountability, and a community that’s all in together.
We are so dang proud of Round 15!!!
🎧 Comment “PODCAST” and we’ll send you the link to Episode 283!
P.S. Round 16 is coming this fall and the waitlist is free to join. These are the results that happen inside. If you want early access and early pricing before applications open, get your name on the list now.
🚀 Comment “ROUND 16” and we’ll send you the waitlist link!
#creativebusiness #weddingphotographer #photographybusiness #creativentrepreneur #socialmediamanager
Week 6. The final bell. And Round 15 went out swinging. 🔔
These are the wins that came in during the last week of the 6 Week Creativ Rise Mastermind - right before we broke the all-time record at $611,407.
Isaiah locked in a $2,500 per quarter retainer with a men's grooming brand - 15 research photos, creative direction, concept development, and three reels every quarter. Annualized, that's a $10,000 deal.
Josh from Dark Strand Visuals in Saskatchewan, Canada closed a $24,000 dance competition video package. Then booked his first ever retainer at $3,000 a month.
Audrey from Maui landed a $2,800 photo and video refresh for a skincare company website.
Abbi out of Hawaii stacked $8,950 in new project value across couples shoots, weddings, and sessions in one week.
Holly closed a $5,500 wedding, a $450 engagement session, and a $350 maternity session - all in the same week.
Andy from Social by Andy in Ontario renewed and expanded retainer contracts, locking in $5,932 in monthly recurring revenue.
Shiv from Australia landed $3,500 for a first shoot with a new wine brand and is already in conversations to move them to a quarterly retainer.
James closed a $6,398 wedding photography and video package.
And Julius from Victoria, BC signed a $3,250 per month reels retainer for three months.
Different businesses. All in the same final week.
This is what six weeks of real strategy actually produces.
🎧 Catch the full episode breakdown in Episode 283 - comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link!
P.S. Round 15 just set the record. Round 16 is where the next one gets broken. If you've been watching from the sidelines and thinking "I want that" - this is your sign. Spots are limited and the waitlist gets first access to apply.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" to get on the waitlist!
#creativebusiness #photographybusiness #creativentrepreneur #businesscoachforphotographers #creativemastermind
Want to book a brand shoot at Coachella, Stagecoach, or literally any festival? Here's how you actually pitch it. 👇
You don't just show up with your camera in hand, hoping to get noticed. And you don't wait around for a brand to find your DMs. You research, you reach out with specifics, and you lead with ideas.
Here's the exact play:
1. Research where the brand is going to be. Festivals, conferences, run clubs, local meetups. Most brands post this publicly.
2. Send a voice memo or email that's actually personable: "Hey, I saw you're going to be at X event on X date."
3. Tell them why you get it: "I know content from this activation is going to be huge for the brand."
4. Share a couple of specific ideas you'd love to shoot for them.
5. Offer same-day or next-day turnaround.
6. End with a simple ask: "Can we chat?"
That's it. Specific, generous, easy to say yes to.
In Episode 282, we pull back the curtain on what we witnessed at Coachella and show creatives exactly how to land the same kind of brand work at events happening in your city right now.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link to tune in!
P.S. The creatives shooting Coachella didn't get lucky. They pitched. And the ones who keep landing that work have a repeatable system for it. Inside the 6 Week Creativ Rise Mastermind, we walk you through the exact pitch frameworks, pricing, and follow-up strategy that turns one event into ongoing brand partnerships. Round 15 sold out.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" to get on the waitlist for Fall 2026!
#Coachella2026 #Stagecoach2026 #BrandPitching #EventPhotographer #CreativeEntrepreneur
The fastest way to lose a brand gig? Pitch yourself instead of your ideas.
"But what if they steal my idea and hire someone else to do it?" 🫣
We hear this one constantly. A mastermind member asked us the exact same thing last week. You've got the meeting, you're sitting on three ideas that could crush it for this brand, and then the fear creeps in and you pull back. So you play it safe and pitch yourself instead.
Here's the truth:
Brands don't hire creatives who protect their ideas. They hire creatives who prove they have more where that came from.
So pitch the idea. If they run with it without you? Circle back: "Loved that you used the idea. Here's another one, and this time we should do it together."
Be the giver. Not the gatekeeper.
In Episode 282, we share the pitching mindset that actually lands creatives real brand partnerships, pulled straight from what we witnessed at Coachella this year.
🎧 Comment "PODCAST" and we'll send you the link to tune in!
P.S. Coachella proved that brands are pouring serious money into content right now. But the creatives landing that work aren't the ones hoarding ideas. They're the ones leading with value in every pitch. Inside the 6 Week Creativ Rise Mastermind, we help you sharpen your pitch, price your offers, and build the confidence that makes brands say yes. Round 15 sold out.
🚀 Comment "ROUND 16" to get on the waitlist for Fall 2026!
#Coachella2026 #BrandPitching #CreativeEntrepreneur #ContentCreator #PhotographerBusiness
